Criteria

Results

Despite the intervening economic turmoil at GM, the company thought it time to reveal at the 2009 New York International Auto Show the initial results of its newly revealed, 18-month partnership with Segway. The first prototype of the team’s city people-pod concept, the PUMA, was on display amid the broad, deeply carpeted aisles of the Javitz Convention Center.

General Motors expanded its family of compact crossover SUVs built on the corporate Theta platform with the announcement of the GMC Terrain, a derivative that is styled to look more like the traditional body-on-frame trucks that comprise most of GMC’s portfolio.

Not only does the Nuvis concept get power from Hyundai’s home-grown parallel hybrid propulsion system, but its structure embodies the flowing, hydrodynamic forms that characterize the philosophy at the firm’s design center in Irvine, CA.

Acura plans to join BMW’s X6 in the market intersection of the coupe, hatchback, and SUV segments with a production version of the ZDX concept the company showed at this month's New York International Auto Show, reaching showrooms by this fall.

The 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee looks little different from the current model, but under the familiar-looking sheetmetal lies an entirely new vehicle that shares hardware, not with previous versions of the Grand Cherokee, but with the Mercedes-Benz ML-Class SUV.

Despite the global economic downturn, China has reached deep into its pockets to further encourage its domestic car manufacturers in their hybrid and alternative fuel vehicle development. The government has invested almost $1.5 billion to put 1000 such vehicles in each of 13 major urban areas in a highly visible public demonstration.

Over the last six to eight years, the complex business of digitally planning, simulating, and integrating vehicles, processes, and production sites has made the shift from a new approach to a practical reality.

Fiat leads the pack of top-selling automobile manufacturers in Europe with the lowest carbon dioxide emissions in 2008, and as an overall company, Fiat is on track to meet the 2015 EU-set level of 130 g/km. Peugeot met the 2008 standard as well, while BMW showed significant improvement from 2007.

At a recent meeting to assess the service industry's readiness to deal with the new A/C refrigerant, EPA urges industry for a phase-out of R-134a to beat or at least match the European Community's regulations.

Caterpillar and Navistar International Corp. have formed a strategic alliance to produce Cat heavy-duty vocational trucks for North America. Cat and Navistar have already started the co-development of the new line of trucks, which will be manufactured in Navistar's Garland, TX facility and be sold and serviced through the Cat North American Dealer network.

While engineering groups are bringing together different disciplines to solve the growing need for mechatronics solutions, they may also need new interdisciplinary engineering tools to capture multiphysics.

Several years ago, U.S. Air Force maintenance technicians at Tinker Air Force Base discovered that an additive designed to remove water from traditional JP8 jet fuel was unexpectedly causing paint to peel off the inside of B-52 fuel tanks. The main concern was that the paint chips could clog the fuel filter and cause an engine flameout.

Hybrid trucks are inching into the marketplace, but there are still plenty of questions about their viability. Despite these questions, the market is evolving as customers buy a few test vehicles and truck developers gear up for the future.

NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) has released MY2011 CAFE standards for passenger cars and light trucks. The combined average will be 27.3 mpg, a 2.0 mpg increase over MY2010. With implementation of a revised CAFE structure that takes into consideration vehicle size, the minimum fuel-economy requirement for passenger cars will differ between automakers.

Truck body designers are responding to the economic downturn with cutbacks that are more often associated with post-holiday resolutions: They are working to slash pounds. Weight is becoming a central element in truck body designs, driving a transformation as aluminum and composites replace steel.

The expansion of the operating temperature range for Transducers USA’s line of 400 Hz electromechanical audio alert buzzer products makes them suitable for use in extreme high- or low-temperature environments and on equipment operating in harsh conditions.